Something to remember as we read about Obama's transition team picks

[Plaid Adder]

This morning I head Sam Nunn's name. I thought, "You know what, after Prop 8, I'm really not in the mood for THIS."

Then, as I was thinking about what it means that Nunn was picked for the Pentagon "transition team," I remembered an email I got from one of my mentors a while back with advice on how to be a successful administrator. It was fabulous advice, but what really struck me was this part of it:

"Seek out your enemies and hug them close to you. Give them responsibilities. Praise them when they do well."

The idea behind this is that since you cannot eject your enemies from the organization, the best thing you can do is co-opt them; and the way to do that is to a)give them a stake in your administration and b) make them feel important and appreciated. Of course, you don't want to give them TOO much responsibility in case this doesn't work and they remain your enemies even after all your praise and whatnot. But find them something meaningful to do and make a big deal out of them when they do it right, and they will eventually cease to be functional enemies.

Obama got where he is partly by knowing a lot more about how people work than, say, McCain apparently does. I imagine that the "transition team" would be a good place for him to execute this strategy, since if you're on the "transition team" this means that your role in the post-transition may not be too central.

I do not expect Obama to ever at any point reveal to the Jedi that he is really a fire-breathing progressive. Because he's not. BUT, I do think it makes sense to look at his transition team picks as being at least as much about internal politics and getting party power players on his side (and indebted to/invested in him) as they are about his overall agenda.

For what it's worth,

The Plaid Adder

[Captain Hilts]

1. Sam Nunn was a NOBODY until Obama elevated him. HE is THE one...

who made Bill Clinton's first year in office miserable. He showed Republicans that Dems didn't respect the first Democratic president in 12 years.

He's a shit and all those who ranted that Clinton, etc. were DINOs and DLCers, just chose not to see this stuff. Consulting Powell. Nunn. Jim Cooper - US's #1 opponent of healthcare reform.

[Maven]

5. Exactly. Nunn was a retired nobody

and no one would have ever had to hear from him again.

[Captain Hilts]

6. BINGO. nt

[kirby]

2. John Podesta is the head of the transition team...

Nunn was selected to help/advise transition related to the Dept of Defense.

[ErinBerin84]

3. .

I was very disappointed by Nunn's role too, but hopefully it will be informal instead of integral...ugh.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/12/obama-campaign-a-lot-of-d_n_143222.html

Barack Obama's transition team pushed back on Wednesday morning against an AP report claiming that former Sen. Sam Nunn and former Secretary of State Warren Christopher are playing an integral role in the presidential transition.

"Senator Sam Nunn will play an informal senior adviser role throughout the defense transition process. His expertise and the respect he has earned will be invaluable to ensure a smooth transition," Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Spokesperson Stephanie Cutter said in a statement.

"Secretary Christopher is deeply respected in the United States and throughout the international community. However, he is not playing a role in the transition process. There's a lot of disinformation out there. We're working hard to put the agency review teams together and expect they'll be announced this week and inside the agencies by the end of the week."

[Maven]

4. That's why I think Obama should pick someone with a history of racism for his southern outreach team

Wait, what? He has no senior advisers with a history of using their power to discriminate against racial minorities? Huh.

[Kalyke]

7. I have a question, actually.

Why is Obama dusting off the moldie oldies for potential cabinet seats? I don't mind some of these, um, experienced :shrug: people on the transition team, but that flow chart of potential cabinet members posted here yesterday was a collection of has-beens, other than Howard Dean and RFKjr.

Can't we get some new, progressive thinkers in there? Wes Clark for SoS, Stephanie Powers for NSA... you know, people who are experienced, but haven't been recycled 20 times.

[kirby]

8. Link please?

The only org chart I saw were names of people working on the transition. Those were not names of people who were potential appointees.

[madfloridian]

9. Here's the link.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2008/11/12/thoughts_on_an_obama_defense_t.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

[kirby]

10. Sorry, where at that link is there any mention

of Nunn as anything more than an 'informal advisor'.

[madfloridian]

11. I don't know what he is.

I just found the link for you. You're welcome.

But I do not remember him fondly at all.

You're welcome.

[kirby]

12. LOL...

I guess it is thanks for your time, but your link had nothing to do with the OP question or my request for a link related to the original posters question. Maybe it was the wrong link or something.

Anyhow, I do not have fond memories of Sen. Sam Nunn. Just knowing that he is a 'Democrat' from Georgia should tell us just about everything about how conservative he is. He was a strong supporter/proponent of the 'Dont ask, dont tell policy'. However he has been a real advocate of reducing nuclear weapons and sercuring stockpiles that could fall into bad hands.

I'm not likely to believe most of these unsourced 'leaks' anyhow.